On a rainy Thursday night in front of a sparse crowd at LionTree Arena, it would have been easy for the Tritons to let their foot off the gas against Big West bottom-feeding Cal State Bakersfield. On the heels of a bitter loss against No. 2-seeded UC Irvine on Feb. 8 and preceding a critical tilt against No. 3-seeded UC Davis on Saturday, this was a quintessential “trap game.”
However, UC San Diego women’s basketball (13-13, 9-5 Big West) refused to play down to its competition, routing the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (2-23, 2-13 Big West) by a score of 63-45. The Tritons took the lead in the first quarter and never gave it back. They overwhelmed the Roadrunners with high-octane, aggressive defense that led to easy baskets on the other end. Sophomore guard Sumayah Sugapong spearheaded the Triton attack, scoring 12 points, alongside four rebounds and four assists.
UCSD’s onslaught began early in the game. Although the Roadrunners led 4-0 in the opening minutes, the Tritons roared back with a 14-0 run to assume a solid lead with a minute remaining in the first quarter. UCSD hounded CSUB all over the court, and the Roadrunners could barely get a shot off. In the four possessions after taking a 4-0 lead, CSUB had four straight turnovers. After they finally managed to get up a perimeter jump-shot that clanged off the iron, three more consecutive possessions ended in turnovers.
In a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian, head coach Heidi VanDerveer explained the importance of aggressive defense for Thursday’s victory and her team’s identity: “I feel like our defense is predicated on having excellent ball pressure, being disruptive, and anticipation, and then covering up for each other, which leads to easy baskets.”
UCSD amassed a whopping 15 points off turnovers in the first frame, coinciding with six steals. Even considering the Tritons’ lead the Big West in steals and turnover margin, this was an eye-popping display of defensive dominance. The Tritons’ torrent of forced turnovers resulted in a 19-6 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Sophomore center Erin Condron ended the period in style with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
The Tritons further built up their lead in the second quarter with a 7-0 run led by Sugapong. After UCSD tread water in the opening three minutes of the quarter with Sugapong on the bench, she checked back into the game and had an immediate impact. In the Tritons’ first offensive possession with Sugapong back on the court, she assisted redshirt sophomore guard Junaé Mahan’s 3-point jumper. Moments later, as soon as she crossed the half-court line and poked the ball free, she picked up her defensive assignment. She then coasted down the court and converted the layup to cap the run. The Tritons maintained this advantage for the remainder of the quarter until Sugapong put an exclamation point on her strong stanza by converting a pull-up mid-range jumper with seconds remaining. This shot brought the score to 34-15 heading into halftime.
As Sugapong’s steal and pick-six layup highlighted, The Tritons were marking their assignments early all night. They often guarded CSUB at midcourt or even in the backcourt. When asked about this strategy, VanDerveer said, “I feel like, for our energy defensively, the earlier we can pick up and get the ball stopped and be disruptive, the better our defense is, and in turn, the better our offense is.”
Through the opening minutes of the third quarter, it looked like the Tritons might run the Roadrunners out of the building. A Sugapong 3-pointer with six minutes remaining made the score 44-15 — an insurmountable 29-point lead. However, the pendulum of momentum swung heavily away from UCSD after that.
The Roadrunners rattled off a 16-0 run, bringing the score to 44-31 with a minute remaining in the quarter. The Tritons were still in control, but a game that seemed all but over minutes ago was once again up for grabs.
VanDerveer attributed the Roadrunner rampage to poor transition defense from her side. “They got loose in transition a little bit,” she said. “We didn’t match up or communicate, and then in turn, if we give up easy baskets, it makes us work harder offensively.”
However, the Tritons quickly regained control and established a sturdy 17-point lead as the third quarter ended. They tightened up the mistakes they were making with the ball leading to turnovers during CSUB’s run and finally got some shots to fall after shooting 0 for 7 from the field during the run. UCSD held onto this lead in the fourth to take home a comfortable victory, 63-45.
Following Thursday’s victory over CSUB, the Tritons defeated UC Davis in nail-biting fashion on Saturday night. As a result, they have leapfrogged the Aggies in the Big West standings and are in sole possession of the No. 3 seed by half of a game. While the Tritons are still unlikely to catch up to UC Irvine or Hawai’i, this win strengthens their claim to a first-round bye — which is awarded to the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds. The Tritons will seek to extend their win streak to three games against Cal Poly on Thursday night.
